


Haunted [By the Past]

by VFDBaudelaireFile13



Category: A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV), A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket
Genre: Bonding, F/F, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff, Gen, Halloween, M/M, Minor Angst, Multi, Other, Trick or Treating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-14 23:46:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21243986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VFDBaudelaireFile13/pseuds/VFDBaudelaireFile13
Summary: The Unfortunate Gen have all moved in together and as you can imagine...holidays are far more chaotic than regular days in the lives of these ten children.  Read about how they ended up living together and how they have spent passed Halloweens.Full of flashbacks to the childhoods of the two elder Baudelaires, the three Quagmire Triplets, Fiona Widdershins, and Carmelita Spats.I hope you guys love this.





	Haunted [By the Past]

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween to all of my readers!
> 
> and...
> 
> A SPECIAL Happy Halloween to my friends/family from the VFDiscord. Thank you guys for all the support y'all have given the one-shots and my AU: Misery Loves Company.
> 
> Hope everyone has an amazing Halloween and yes you can expect a Thanksgiving one-shot that's similar to this.

** _Haunted (By the Past):_ **

  
  


The holidays are a chaotic time of the year. Despite popular belief, the holiday season does  _ not  _ start in November or December...it starts in October, you know, to include Halloween. But for the Unfortunate gen, every season is chaos especially when you have ten people living under the same roof.

None of the kids truly understood just how this happened honestly. The Baudelaires had arrived back from the island with Kit Snicket’s daughter, Beatrice II, where they had found a way to get a small studio apartment for the four of them. One day, they had received a suspicious letter on their doorstep telling them to meet at Old Ed’s Soda Shop and to order a rootbeer float. Violet, at first, was determined to ignore the letter but Klaus kept pestering her, explaining that maybe just maybe it was a VFD agent who wanted to answer their questions about their parents. Even though Violet had severely doubted this, she didn’t want Klaus to meet whoever it was sending them this letter alone so she decided to go with him. What they had found, surprised each of the kids. The Quagmires Triplets had received a similar note, so had Fiona Widdershins, who had met up with Friday Caliban, who she immediately took under her wing. Unfortunately, not too long after the Hotel Denouement fire, orphans became out of style once again so Esme Squalor abandoned Carmelita. Carmelita found shelter hiding out in a dancing studio, she was surprised when she had received any type of mail because she believed no one knew where she was. As the Baudelaires had entered the shop, they looked around to see so many familiar faces. At first, Violet believed this was a trap. It had seemed very odd to have all of these faces from her past in the same place. 

Before Violet could suggest leaving, the owner of the shop looked at the crowd of kids. “Are you Violet Baudelaire?” the owner had asked her. She was speechless, unable to understand how he knew her name. Quigley immediately stepped in front of her in order to protect her. 

“That depends...who’s asking?” He asked as Violet held Bea tightly in her arms.

The owner shrugged. “An anonymous associate,” he answered. “He asked me to give Violet this note,” he said holding it out for Quigley to take. 

Quigley looked suspiciously at the man and then the note. He looked towards Violet, who nodded her head, telling him to take it from the soda shop owner. Quigley took it as Klaus stepped closer to examine the note.

“ _ To Violet Baudelaire & Company, _

_ I am offering you, your siblings, and your friends a condo...free of charge. You will not have to worry about rent, it will be taken care of every month until you all have received your inheritances. You can consider this an act of ‘charity’, but I consider this ‘compensation’ which is a word which here means ‘a way to repay you all for your troubles revolving around V.F.D.’ Even though I can’t erase the trauma that you’ve endured, I can make the future a bit easier on all of you.  _

_ -With love, _

_ My Silence Knot,” _

Klaus read aloud. 

The ten children looked at one another. “‘My Silence Knot’?” Violet repeated as if she had heard this phrase before.

Klaus and Quigley nodded. “That’s what it says,” Klaus replied to his sister.

“Do you think we can trust it?” Fiona asked as she squeezed Friday’s hand tighter.

“Why wouldn’t we? It’s a free home,” Carmelita squealed happily.

“It could be a trap,” Isadora explained.

“Isadora’s right. Who would want to compensate us for the shit we’ve been through?” Duncan asked skeptically.

“I’m with Carmelita on this one you guys. It’s V.F.D...what’s not to trust?” Quigley asked.

Everyone looked at Quigley, even Violet, who facepalmed in response. Each of the nine other children, all at once yelled, “ _ It’s a cult, Quigley! _ ” even Beatrice II, who just yelled, “Cult!” because she wasn’t properly speaking yet. Quigley just frowned and he turned to Carmelita.

“I thought we were on the same side,”

“Oh, I’m all for a free home. But...this VFD shit? Bad news, dude. That bitch Esme explained it to me a bit,” Carmelita explained then turned to Klaus. “She  _ hated  _ your mother,”

Klaus rolled his eyes. “That’s okay. We hate her,” Klaus replied as Sunny agreed. 

Violet just continued to stare at the note.  _ My Silence Knot… why was that familiar to her?  _

“Penny for your thoughts?” Sunny asked.

Violet shook her head in response. “I don’t know...maybe I’m overthinking it. But I think I know that phrase...from somewhere,”

Duncan grabbed the note and pulled a pen out of his pocket. “It could be an anagram…VFD is known for anagrams,” he explained. Immediately, he began to unscramble the letters. “Do you guys know a ‘Lemony Snicket’?” 

Carmelita and Quigley burst out laughing. “What kind of name is ‘Lemony’?” Carmelita asked as she and Quigley started bursting out laughing.

Klaus looked at Violet. “Did we ever meet a Lemony…?”

“No...but Mother wrote that she would have named me ‘Lemony’ if I were a boy,” Violet replied confused. “I thought she would’ve only named me that...if he had died because that was the tradition…but if he’s alive...then...” 

“Wait...you would’ve been named ‘Lemony’?” Carmelita asked as she burst out laughing again, then she looked at Klaus. “Be lucky your mother came to her senses by the time you were born or you would’ve been Lemony,” 

Klaus rolled his eyes. “Kindly fuck off, Carm,” 

Isadora stood there confused, “Did any of us meet this Lemony guy?”

“I knew a Jacques Snicket…” Quigley mentioned frowning.

“Bea’s mother was Kit Snicket…” Sunny explained.

“Oh! I know that name! Lemony was Jacques and Kit’s brother. He worked on the Queequeg when I was a little girl!” Fiona explained. “Nice guy...very sad...walking dictionary like our buddy, Klaus, here. He helped me get into mycology. But that was a  _ long  _ time ago…”

Friday looked up at Violet. “If he doesn’t know any of us...why is he giving us a home?” she asked.

Violet stared at the note and then looked at the infant in her arms. “Maybe...maybe he knows about Bea and he’s too involved in VFD to adopt her…” she began.

“Woah. Woah. Woah,” Klaus interrupted. “I don’t give a fuck if he’s her maternal uncle...this child is  _ mine.  _ He’d have to take her from my cold dead hands,” 

Violet smiled at her brother. “I second that notion, Klaus,” she said. “But as I was saying, either he is too involved with VFD to raise her himself or maybe he doesn’t want to try to take her from us…”

“There wouldn’t be any  _ tries _ , he wouldn’t. I wouldn’t let that happen,” Klaus said carefully snatching the infant from his sister’s arms. “I’m perfectly fine with him being in her life...as long as he won’t take her from me...I mean  _ us… _ ” Klaus held Bea close to him. “You’re mine...you understand that…” 

Violet chuckled at this. “He’d have to fight me, too,” Violet said as she carefully folded the note into her pocket. 

Violet took a deep breath as she looked towards everyone in the group. “Well, we decide right now...do we trust this Lemony Snicket guy?”

“As long as he doesn’t try to take my Bea...then yeah, he’s a Snicket…haven’t met a bad one yet,” Klaus explained.

“Just two brainwashed cult victims,” Sunny replied.

“If he’s still as nice as I remember him...yeah I trust him,” Fiona replied.

“I don’t know him, but I trust whoever Fiona trusts,” Friday said. 

Isadora grabbed her brothers’ hands as she said, “I don’t care if I trust him or not...I’m going wherever my brothers are going,”

Duncan and Quigley looked at one another. “I don’t trust VFD…” Duncan said cautiously. “But I doubt this Snicket guy would hurt his niece...so I’m in,” 

“If he’s Jacques’ brother then I trust him…” Quigley stated.

“Bro...you trust VFD,” Isadora said laughing.

“Shut up, Izzie,” Quigley said laughing.

“Well I haven’t met any Snickets...besides the cute little baby,” Carmelita said pointing at Bea. “But I’m tired of living at a dance studio, so I’m in,” 

Everyone looked at Violet, who looked at each one of her siblings and friends. “What do we have to lose?” she asked as the shop owner handed her a key and an address. 

The kids walked as a group, catching up, apologizing for mistakes they had made and choices they made when they had nowhere else to turn. Immediately, as if they hadn’t missed a beat, Duncan and Klaus were immediately back to flirting and Duncan even held Klaus’ hand as they walked because he regretted not making his feelings more obvious back at Prufrock. Violet was trying her best to reconnect with Quigley without hurting Isadora’s feelings which were easier than she had thought because Carmelita had Isadora distracted.

“She’s totally staring, Isa...can I call you Isa?” Carm asked.

Isadora sighed. “Sure...anything is better than ‘cakesniffer’,” 

“Oh, you’re all still cakesniffers,” Carmelita explained. “I just… I consider you guys my cakesniffing friends…”

Isadora rolled her eyes. “Takes one to know one,” she replied.

“But seriously, triangle eyes is definitely staring at you,” Carmelita explained.

“Her name is Fiona,” Isadora replied defensively as Carmelita smirked. 

“...ask her out,” Carmelita whispered to Isa.

“Shut it, Carm,” 

The group of ten finally reached the address to the condo. Everyone looked to Violet for their next move. Violet noticed this and she looked at Fiona in surprise. “Why is everyone looking at me? Fiona’s the eldest in the group.”

“Yeah, but Snicket left the condo in your name,” Fiona pointed out.

Violet nodded. “Okay. Listen to me,  _ everyone,  _ if this is a trap...I want you nine to run for your lives…do you understand me?”

“Nope. Nope. Nope,” Quigley and Klaus said simultaneously.

“Not fucking happening, Vi,” Isadora added.

“Baudelaire, you are crazy if you think we’re going to leave you,” Carmelita added. 

“They won’t be able to fight all of us,” Fiona pointed out.

“I like her,” Sunny said high fiving Fiona.

“Fine. If it is a trap though, Duncan, can you protect Sunny… Klaus...I already know you have Bea,” Violet replied. “Fiona, you got Friday right?”

“Always…” Fiona replied.

Duncan nodded as he picked up Sunny.

“I don’t need protecting!” Sunny protested.

“Hey...it’s okay Sunshine...she probably paired you with me so you can protect me,” Duncan whispered to Sunny. 

Sunny’s face lit up. “Don’t worry...I got you,” she whispered back to Duncan. 

But when the children had entered the condo, they realized that it wasn’t a trap. It was a fully furnished condo that had enough rooms to house ten people. 

_________________________________________

Violet remembered that day like it was yesterday. The first chaotic day in her new life dealing with 9 other people living in the same condo. Right now, it was the morning of Halloween and everyone was trying to get ready to go trick or treating. Violet was happy that the children could regain  _ some  _ of their childhoods. As the house erupted in noise and excitement and...yes, much chaos, Violet looked around the house for the two littlest members. Her little girls, Sunny and Bea II wanted to dress up as Queen Elsa and Princess Ana from Disney’s  _ Frozen. _ This was an easy feat for Violet to make happen because she had received additional money from this Lemony Snicket character with a note saying for the ten kids to treat themselves for the upcoming holiday. Violet couldn’t understand why Lemony was being so charitable but has yet asked to meet up with them to meet his niece. Violet has many questions for him but he never gives them a return address. 

Violet walked around the condo and could hear the giggles of her little girls and an annoyed tone coming from her brother.

“Sunny, no,” Klaus replied annoyed. “No. No. No. No.”

“What you got against Frozen?” Sunny asked annoyed.

“You know I have nothing against Frozen,” Klaus replied to his younger sister. “But...no,” 

“Please,” Sunny begged.

“I’m not dressing up as that snowman,” Klaus explained trying to walk away.

“Why not?” she asked.

“Olaf!” Bea II chimed in.

“That’s why,” Klaus explained.

“Oh, it’s just a name,” Sunny said rolling her eyes.

“Really?” Klaus asked even more annoyed. “Just a name...if I’m not mistaken that is the name of the piece of shit who…” he began but was interrupted by someone who only had to say  _ one  _ word to convince him.

“Pease,” Bea pleaded looking at Klaus with her shiny eyes in a puppy dog face. 

Klaus felt his heart shatter and melt when Bea spoke up. Sunny gave a wicked smile when she looked from Bea to her brother. She knew Bea knew what she was doing, Bea knew she had everyone wrapped around her wittle fingers  _ especially  _ Klaus. Klaus opened his mouth to speak but closed his mouth. “Fine,” he muttered.

Bea clapped her tiny hands and giggled as Sunny hugged Bea. “That’s my girl!” she yelled. 

Violet started laughing under her breath as Sunny handed Klaus his costume. “She has you wrapped around her finger, bro,” 

“Shut it, Vi,” Klaus says annoyed walking away to change into his costume. Violet smiled down at the two young girls as she held out both her hands for theirs.

Violet walked the girls to their designated bathroom and began to silently braid Sunny’s hair into the iconic Elsa look. As she did so, all she could do was remember all the times that her mother had taken time to help her and Klaus into their costumes every year. Violet gave a small frown when she realized that Sunny...would never get that with their parents. All she had was Violet and Klaus, and everyone else who lived in the house, of course. But then she looked at Bea, who was separating pieces of her costume from Sunny’s, who kept patiently waiting for her turn and Violet realized that Bea was in the same boat as Sunny. She’d never be able to spend a Halloween with her parents either. Because, like the Baudelaire parents, both Bea’s biological parents were dead, too. Kit had died shortly after giving birth to Violet’s little angel. While, Bea’s father, a man that the Baudelaires knew very well and hated so much, had died a little before she had been born. The Baudelaires had come to the conclusion that Dewey Denouement was not the biological father of their little girl. How? How were they so certain? Well, for starters Bea had the same shiny eyes as the man that terrorized them for so long. It was a strange detail to swallow at first but it didn’t take the children long to ignore that fact and love Bea as much as she deserved to be loved. 

Violet looked at these two girls and all she could see were herself and Klaus. Beatrice would be doing Violet’s make up for her costume while Klaus would be pacing back and forth asking their mother to hurry up because he was eager to get candy.

“Mother...she’s scary enough,” he had said one year when Violet asked her mother if she can transform her into a zombie princess. 

“Patience is a virtue, honey,” Beatrice had responded not even turning away from her work. She turned Violet’s chair so her daughter can see her progress in the mirror. Violet’s face was a mixture of greens and grey with fake scars and blotches of red. Violet smiled in the mirror. 

“How did you make the scars?” Violet asked. “They look so real!” 

“Well, you see,” Beatrice began as she started creating another scar to show her daughter as an example. Klaus huffed and puffed as Violet watched attentively. Once Beatrice was finished, she handed the tools to Violet. “Now, you try,” she had said as she allowed her daughter to attempt to create fake scars on her face. 

Violet sighed as she finished Sunny’s hair and moved on to Bea’s. Oh, how her mother would never realize just how important her teaching how to apply fake scars to Violet truly was. Violet used this skill back when the three siblings were being pursued by an unpredictable madman. Violet had successfully applied fake scars to Klaus’ and her own face in order to disguise themselves as a two-headed carnival freak. Although the children’s identities had been found out...it wasn’t because of how poor their disguise was...but more so how they were sold out by someone who had an intense desire to give people what they want. As Violet braided Bea’s hair in two braided pigtails, all she could think about was how she had to make this Halloween a great one for her two little girls.

\-------------------------------------------------

Duncan Quagmire knocked on the door of the bathroom nearest his room. “Bro, let’s go. Other people need to get into their costumes too,” Duncan complained.

Carmelita exited her room, glancing towards the costume Duncan was holding. “Really?”

“Fuck off, Carm,” Duncan said trying to roll up his costume into a ball.

Carmelita was laughing her ass off. “I swear to God, you boys and your costumes are to die for,” 

Duncan rolled his eyes. “And what are you going as?”

“Well I’m keeping with the Disney theme that we’ve got going here,” she said. “I’m going to be the Queen of Hearts,”

“Hmmm...I can see it. Definitely suits you,”

“I can’t wait to scream  _ off with their heads  _ all night!” 

“Lovely,” Duncan said knocking on the door again. “Bro, let’s go,”

“Bro, fuck off,” Quigley called out.

“What is taking so long?”

“None of your business,” Quigley replied. “Where’s Vi?”

“Why?” 

“Because I don’t want her to see...yet,”

“Why?” Carmelita asked confused.

“Isn’t that like bad luck?” Quigley asked.

“That’s if you see her in a wedding dress before the wedding...but you guys aren’t getting married…” Duncan replied confused.

Quigley opened the door and both Duncan and Carmelita began laughing when they saw his costume.

“Oh...my…” Carmelita began.

“God...my brother’s a furry,” Duncan cried out in between laughs.

Quigley glared at both of them. “First off, I am not a furry…” 

“You sure?” Carmelita asked.

“I’m Beast from Beauty and the Beast,” Quigley cried defensively. “Violet wanted to be Belle, so I thought since we’re the power couple I’d go as Beast,” 

“You’re not helping your case. So you’re saying you  _ willingly  _ decided to dress like this,”

“Well, it’s for Violet,” Quigley explained. “You think I want to dress like this?”

“Yeah...I do. Because you’re a furry,” Duncan said.

“I’m not a fucking furry,” 

“Keep telling yourself that,” Carmelita replied.

Fiona came walking through the hall. She took one look at Quigley’s Beast costume. “Do I even wanna know?” 

“Violet’s Belle and I’m Beast,” he said.

“Uh-huh,” Fiona said as she giggled a little. 

“I’m not a furry,” 

“I didn’t say you were,” Fiona said.

“Well, they did,” Quigley stated pointing at Duncan and Carmelita, who were still laughing their asses off. They were laughing so hard, in fact, they were practically hugging each other, trying to hold each other up from falling on the ground. 

“Well, I mean…” Fiona said pointing at his costume. “You’re really not helping your case…”

“I’m doing this for Violet!” Quigley said as he walked passed his brother and Carmelita, who began to make growling noises. Quigley rolled his eyes. He didn’t understand why everyone thought he was a furry for wearing a simple costume.  _ It was just a costume...wasn’t it?  _ He thought to himself as he walked into the kitchen. Quigley made himself a snack as he reminisced about the times when he and his siblings were little kids, maybe around the age of 5 or 6, where his mother thought it was a cute idea to dress the triplets up as dalmatian puppies. Duncan and Isadora weren’t very keen on the costume idea, although Quigley was all for it. But that didn’t make him a furry. He always liked costumes that had fur...fake of course, he wasn’t Cruella DeVil...excited to skin precious animals. But he did like how the fur was always warm and soft. He remembered when they were 7 and he had suggested for them to be the three kittens from the Aristocats.

“You guys, I figured out what we should go as this year,” Quigley had told his siblings.

“Do tell,” Isadora replied from within their treehouse.

“Now hear me out ‘cause I know you guys’ hated last year's costume…” he began.

“Oh no,” Duncan interrupted.

“Come on, you guys! It’ll be fun!” 

“No,” Isadora replied simply.

“But you don’t even know what my idea is!” Quigley protested.

Duncan looked at Isadora sighing. “He’s right...the least we can do is  _ hear _ him out,” 

Isadora rolled her eyes. “Fine...fine...what’s your idea Quig?”

“Well, we can be the three kittens from the Aristocats,” Quigley began. “I mean, Isadora you are definitely Marie,”

Duncan and Isadora looked at one another and then at Quigley. “What is with you and dressing up as animals?” Isadora asked her brother.

“What? You are so Marie!” 

“Ladies do not start fights, but they can finish them,” Isadora quoted laughing.

“See!? It’s perfect!” Quigley cried.

“Bro, why do you like dressing up like animals?” Duncan asked.

“It’s soft and furry!” Quigley explained.

“Hahaha, furry,” Duncan repeated mockingly. 

Quigley rolled his eyes at this memory. He wasn’t a furry, no matter what Duncan and Carmelita said. He was dressing up as Beast for Violet, Violet was the one who had chosen their cute couple costume. He didn’t mind dressing as Beast though, but that didn’t make him a furry. He sat down in the dining room waiting for everyone else to get ready.

\--------------------------------------------------

Fiona watched as Quigley walked away angrily. “You two should be a bit nicer…,” Fiona muttered.

“What?” Duncan asked confused.

“You laughed, too,” Carmelita pointed out. 

“Yes...but not like you guys,” Fiona said. “I’m just saying...just let people dress the way they want for Halloween…” she began to walk back to her room to finish changing into her costume. She sighed. She was happy to be a part of this chaotic new little family. As she began to put on her pirate costume, she remembered when she was a little girl, when she only had a few opportunities to celebrate Halloween like most kids because she spent a vast majority of her childhood stuck on a submarine with her stepfather and her brother, Fernald. The few Halloweens that she was able to celebrate, her stepfather would nearly ruin. Growing up, Fiona always wanted to dress up in what her stepfather would have described as traditionally ‘boyish’ costumes. He would have either insulted her for her choices or would try to stop her. Her older brother would always defend her but when he had left, Fiona was alone stuck with only their stepfather. 

So it was a surprise to her when she went out with everyone to pick out costumes and when Isadora and Friday had noticed that she was standing in the back, keeping more or less to herself. 

“Fiona? Aren’t you going to pick a costume out?” Friday had asked. 

Fiona shook her head in response. “...it’s not my thing…” she lied. She looked around at her nine friends as they were splitting up in smaller groups to look around the store. Isadora and Friday looked at one another and then at Fiona.

“Would you like to help us find a costume then?” Isadora asked nervously as Friday nodded her head from behind Isadora, Friday’s way of trying to convince Fiona to agree. Fiona reluctantly agreed to follow Friday and Isadora around the store for a couple of reasons. The first is that she saw Friday like a little sister and she knew that Friday would love if Fiona was helping her pick her costume. Another reason was that Fiona had a small crush on Isadora and any time she can hang out with Isadora without any of the other older kids she would take it. Thirdly, she secretly wanted to pick a costume but she didn’t know how anyone would react if she chose one that was traditionally for boys.

As Isadora and Fiona followed Friday around the Halloween store, discussing their childhood and their brothers, Friday finally picked out an Ariel from the Little Mermaid costume which she was super excited for. Friday, like Fiona, was a girl from the sea. Friday was born and raised for seven years on an island while Fiona was born and raised on the Queequeg, a submarine that was manned by her stepfather. 

After Friday was absolutely certain that this was what she wanted, it was Isadora’s turn to pick out a costume. Isadora intentionally took her time, glancing around the entire store as she held Fiona’s hands, she was hoping that Fiona’s eyes would catch onto a costume and then Isadora would convince her to get it. Finally, as Isadora had picked out a costume, she noticed that Fiona’s eyes were glued to a pirate captain costume.

“I think you should get it,” Isadora had mentioned as Fiona turned her head to focus on the costume that Isadora had picked out.

“What?” she asked.

“I saw you eyeing the pirate costume. You should get it,” Isadora repeated.

“No…” Fiona began.

“Get it, Fi,” Friday agreed.

“I don’t think I should,”

“Why?” Friday asked.

“You’d look amazing!” Isadora added.

Fiona blushed. “You mean that? You don’t think its too ‘boyish’?”

“Of course not,” Isadora replied. “Who would have said that?”

“My stepfather,” 

“Well he can fuck off,” Isadora said simply as she grabbed the costume placing it into the cart. “In  _ this  _ family, we let people be themselves,” 

Friday nodded at Isadora’s statement as Fiona had slowly nodded.

Fiona looked at her costume and took a deep breath. She was happy to be who she was. She was happy that her life had taken certain turns that landed her with these nine people rather than her being stuck in a small submarine with just her awful stepfather as her only company.

\--------------------------------------------------------

Isadora walked around the home looking for Violet. She needed someone to help her with her blue face paint. She had heard that Violet knew how to make fake scars which were exactly what she needed. She stumbled across Violet, who was just finishing Bea’s hair for her Ana costume. 

“Hey, Vi?” Isadora said.

“Yeah, Izzie,” Violet replied not even looking up from her work.

“When you’re done with Bea could you help me with my face paint?”

Violet looked at Sunny. “What time is it, Sunshine?” 

“Four-thirty,” Sunny replied as she played with her Elsa braid. 

“Hey, hey. Don’t mess that up. We don’t have time to fix it,” Violet warned.

“But it’s so pretty!” 

“Thanks, Sunshine,” Violet said turning back to Isadora. “Ummm...yeah. I’m going to need Carm or Fi to do my hair then,” 

“If it’s trouble I can see if Fiona…” Isadora began.

“No, no trouble at all. Just let me finish Bea’s and I’ll help you out,” Violet said smiling. “Fiona! Carmelita! Can one of you guys come here!” she called out.

“What you need, chief?” Carmelita said popping her head into the bathroom. She smiled down at the two girls. “Oh. My. God. Violet! Their hair is so fabulous!” 

“Thank you!” Bea replied.

“Thanks, Carma,” Sunny said smiling.

“Was anyone going to tell me that we have  _ other  _ royalty here?” Carmelita said curtsying for Sunny and Bea. “Queen Elsa and Princess Ana of Arandelle, pleasure to make your acquaintance.” 

Sunny and Bea giggled. “Pleasure to meet you, Queen of Hearts,” Sunny replied curtsying.

“Wonderland!” Bea replied as she tried to curtsy for Carmelita but Violet was still trying to do her hair.

“Carm, you think you can do my hair while I’m doing Isadora’s make up?” Violet asked.

“Oh hell yeah!” Carmelita said. “Let me go get some of my products…” she said running off before Violet could protest.

“Should be five more mins,” Violet said to Isadora.

Isadora smiled as she leaned against the wall of the bathroom. The chaos that ensued around her, reminded her about when she was younger and she was trying to get the attention of one of her parents. It was Halloween, she couldn’t remember the exact age of her and her brothers but she remembered that she was trying to get her parents to help her with her costume but they were both focused on her brothers.

It was the first year that their mother didn’t make them pick a group costume, so of course, all three triplets had their own tastes. Quigley had beat Isadora to their father and Duncan had beat her to their mother. So she had to wait anxiously as the time got closer and closer and she felt like she wouldn’t have time to get her costume ready. 

“Mommy,” Isadora had whined. “Don’t forget about me,” 

“I’m not going to forget about you, Izzie. Just give me a minute, Duncan’s almost done,”

Isadora frowned. It wasn’t easy being the middle triplet, sometimes she felt lost in the crowd that was her brothers. Both of her brothers demanded attention, one was a crybaby and one was a feral little troublemaker. Isadora was the chill one of the three, sometimes that stood as a disadvantage. But right now living with these nine made her feel  _ less  _ invisible...if that made any sense. Like there were a few who focused on Quigley and there were some who focused on Duncan but then there was  _ more  _ who focused on her and she couldn’t help but smile at that. As Violet finished Bea’s hair, she asked Sunny to make sure that Bea wouldn’t mess up her hair as Violet got to work helping Isadora with her costume. Carmelita rushed in, almost entirely done with her own costume as she began to help Violet with her hair. The three girls laughed and talked until Fiona came in looking for everyone. Fiona quickly started helping Carmelita with her hair as she helped with Violet’s and Violet helped with Isadora’s makeup.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Duncan took forever to fit into his Peter Pan costume. He laughed to himself when he realized that nearly everyone was in Disney costumes. His costume was pretty simple, green tunic shirt, green tights, green hat. Duncan loved the color green and Peter Pan was one of his and Klaus’ favorite Disney movies. He was a little sad that Klaus wasn’t going to dress up with him like Quigley was dressing up for Violet, but Bea and Sunny wanted Klaus to go as Olaf the snowman and those two were Klaus’ little girls so they always get what they want.

As Duncan finished putting on his costume, even having bought a pair of fake pointy ears to make his costume even more realistic as he walked along towards the dining room, he saw Quigley sitting there waiting for everyone else. Quigley looked up from his book and started laughing his ass off at his brother.

“Okay. So you have no room to talk,” Quigley said laughing.

“I’m sorry but what’s so funny?” Duncan asked annoyed.

“Your costume…” 

“How so?”

“Have you looked in a mirror?”

“Have you? Furry boy,” 

“I’m not a fucking furry!” Quigley yelled defensively. “Violet wanted to be Belle so I’m her prince!” 

“Her  _ furry  _ prince,” 

“Least I’m not in tights,” 

“Least I’m not a fucking furry,”

“Bro, fuck off,” Quigley said annoyed.

“Can you guys stop fighting for once?” a voice called out. Quigley and Duncan looked as Violet walked into the dining room. She was wearing Belle’s elegant yellow dress with her dark brown hair in the same style as Belle’s. Quigley’s face fell as he stared at Violet.

“Y-you look…” Quigley started at a loss of words. Violet twirled in her yellow gown as she giggled. 

“Y-you look…” he said again as Duncan started laughing his ass off again.

“Mr. Smooth at a loss of words?” Duncan asked his brother.

“V-Violet…” 

Violet smiled and giggled again. Duncan looked at his brother. “Here let me help you,” he said as he playfully slapped Quigley’s face snapping him back into reality.

“You look very lovely indeed,” Quigley said glaring at his brother.

Duncan rolled his eyes. “You and that stupid pick up line,” 

“You’re just jealous that I’m the articulate brother when it comes to flirting,”

“Y-you look...y-you look,” Duncan mocked as Quigley rolled his eyes. 

“Again, fuck off,” 

“You first,” he replied.

“Boys, boys, calm down. You’re both pretty...well...sort of,” Isadora said as she entered the room. Her face and arms caked with blue-ish grey makeup and fake scars, looking like Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas. “See...I can’t call you guys ‘ugly’ necessarily since we’re triplets. But...I am the prettiest triplet,” 

Duncan and Quigley rolled their eyes. “Debatable,” Quigley muttered.

Fiona walked into the room in her captain’s outfit. “Honestly, it’s not up for debate,” Fiona replied putting an arm around Isadora. Everyone in the room noticed that in place of Fiona’s left hand was a plastic hook. 

“So are you Captain Hook?” Quigley asked.

“Nah, just a Captain of a pirate ship,” Fiona replied. “I didn’t really go for the whole Disney theme, I guess,” 

“But the hook…?” Quigley asked confused.

“It’s just cool looking. I even have a sword,” Fiona replied pointing to her plastic sword. “Oh! I’m also using this spyglass as a prop,” she said showing off her own VFD spyglass.

“We should totally sword fight!” Duncan said cheerfully as he took out his plastic dagger.

Fiona laughed. “I wouldn’t want to embarrass you, Duncan. You wouldn’t stand a chance against me,” 

Isadora giggled. “Isn’t my girlfriend just lovely,” 

“ _ Very lovely indeed, _ ” Duncan mocked as Quigley rolled his eyes.

“Again, fuck off, Pan,” 

“Get out of here, furry boy,”

“ _ Off with their heads! _ ” Another voice called out as she entered the room holding the hands of the two little girls. “Bow peasants! It is I...Wonderland’s Queen of Hearts escorting Queen Elsa and Princess Ana of Arandelle!” Carmelita shouted. Carmelita spoke the truth, she was decked out in everything and anything Queen of Hearts related. Her lipstick even in the shape of a heart. She held the hands of Sunny and Bea who were entirely decked out in their Frozen costumes.

“Bow down to your Queens…” Sunny shouted just as loud as Carmelita had.

“Pwincess!” Bea shouted giggling.

Duncan bowed for Sunny and Bea. “How is the weather treating you, dear Queen Elsa and Princess Ana,”

“Lovely,” Sunny replied.

“I think you mean  _ very lovely indeed _ ,” Duncan replied.

“Bro, seriously. I get that you're jealous that I have all the best lines...but get your own material,” Quigley said annoyed.

Violet rolled her and giggled a little. “Let him say what he wants. He’s just jealous he and Klaus always get so tongue-tied,” 

“Thanks, Vi,” Duncan said rolling his eyes.

“Are we all here?” Sunny asked. “I wanna get some candy,”

Violet started to do a headcount. “We’re missing two,” she said after a minute.

Klaus grumpily walked into the room carrying Friday, who was dressed up as Ariel, piggyback style. The second Klaus entered the room, Quigley, Carmelita, and Sunny burst out laughing. Violet, Fiona, and Isadora tried to hide their giggles. While Bea was clapping chanting “Olaf”. Duncan and Friday looked at one another.

“Hey! Leave Klaus alone!” Friday shouted as Klaus let her down. “He’s doing this for Bea and Sunny,” 

Klaus first glared at Quigley. “First off, fuck off, furry boy,” 

“I’m doing this for Violet!”

“I’m doing this for Sunny and Bea!” Klaus replied annoyed. He then looked at Sunny. “I don’t know why you’re laughing, I’m doing this for you!”

“Cause it’s funnier than I had ever imagined it,” Sunny said.

Klaus looked at Carmelita but didn’t say anything. He knew she was going to laugh no matter what and he was used to it by now. He glared at the older girls. Violet tried to stop giggling but she couldn’t help it. “Nice costume, bro,” 

Klaus rolled his eyes. “The things I do for these girls,” he muttered.

Duncan smiled at Klaus. “I think you look...nice…”

“ _ Don’t you mean ‘very lovely indeed’? _ ” Quigley mocked. Duncan just ignored him.

Klaus sighed. “Let’s just get this over with,” 

“I think it’s nice that you’re doing this for Sunny and Bea,” Friday noted as Carmelita finally stopped laughing.

“Thank you, Friday. Least someone appreciates my efforts,” he said jokingly giving Sunny a soft glare, as she kept giggling.

“I think the costume makes sense,” Duncan muttered blushing.

Klaus looked at him confused. “What do you mean,”

“I mean...you do give warm hugs,” Duncan muttered back blushing even more now. Klaus blushed too.

“Get a room,” Carmelita said scoffing.

“Fuck off, Carm,” Klaus replied as he smiled at Duncan. “You know...you’re someone worth melting for,” he replied further quoting the movie. He pulled Duncan into a hug.

“See...warmest hug ever,” Duncan replied.

“I’m going to barf,” Sunny replied.

“Okay, come on girls,” Carmelita said holding out her hands. “Let’s go steal some candy,”

Bea grabbed her hand and Sunny grabbed the other one holding out her hand for Friday to take. 

Before they walked out. “Oh, let’s not forget our jackets,” Violet noted.

“The cold never bothered me anyway,” Sunny replied.

Violet smiled and held out Sunny’s jacket for her. “You’ll thank me later,” she replied as Sunny grumpily took the jacket.

“Carm, are you sure you’ve got the girls?” Klaus asked worriedly as they headed out. Duncan was holding his hand and they were walking ahead of Carmelita and the girls. Klaus kept turning his head back to make sure that Carmelita was handling the three girls.

Carmelita rolled her eyes. “I’m not useless, twin,” she said using a nickname that she knew drove Klaus insane. Carmelita and Klaus were both the same age, although they had different birthdays. But Carmelita liked to call him her twin just to pester him. The first time she didn’t, he flipped the fuck out...worse than she thought he would and since then she couldn’t help but continue to do it whenever he was annoying her.

“We’re not twins!” Klaus replied.

“Babe, she does that to annoy you,”

“And it works,” Klaus muttered.

“We know,” Isadora replied laughing as she held Fiona’s right hand.

“But seriously, do you have the girls?” he asked worriedly.

“Do you not want to hold your boyfriend’s hand? You three couples don’t need to worry about these three girls...I’ve got them,” Carmelita replied annoyed. 

“Are you sure?” Klaus asked again.

“I’ve got the girls!” she huffed.

“I’ll help her,” Friday added wanting everyone to stop arguing. This was her first time trick-or-treating since she had lived on an island her whole life and she wished that everyone would chill the fuck out and just enjoy the night.

“I don’t need help,” Carmelita replied as sweetly as she could to Friday. 

As they walked Carmelita continuously glared and rolled her eyes at Klaus every time he would look back and check on her handling of the girls. Violet checked a few times as well, but not as much as Klaus. Carmelita didn’t mind Violet doing it since it wasn’t every two minutes...just when she could see the headlights of a car coming from behind them. Carmelita, as selfish as she usually was, was actually trying to be selfless tonight. She was trying to make it to where the three couples didn’t have to worry about the three little girls that were in their little family. She just wanted to make this night fun for everyone. She glared at other older trick-or-treaters as she would watch them as they passed by the girls. Carmelita was a bit more on edge than she usually was.

She remembered a time when she was a little girl, her parents  _ never  _ took her trick-or-treating, so her older cousin, Brandon would take her. One year, when she had filled up an entire pink pillowcase full, she was walking ahead of her cousin eagerly trying to get to the next house. She had walked right into a crowd of other kids, and some of the older kids who were around Brandon’s age were being hecklers and assholes, pushing little kids down and taking their candy. Unfortunately for Carmelita, she had been one of the little kids that had their candy taken by the older kids and they had ran away before Brandon could catch up to them. Carmelita remembered herself crying that night even as Brandon drove her to the store and bought her as many bags of candy as he needed to, to refill another pillowcase. Carmelita refused to let that happen to Friday, Sunny, or Bea. She was ready to protect these girls and their candy. So it annoyed her when Klaus acted like she didn’t know how to take care of the girls.

Believe it or not, but Carmelita loved being a part of this little chaotic family even if she teased them a lot. Carmelita, being an only child with two very neglectful parents, had spent the beginning of her childhood very lonely. She only had her two cousins until something dreadful happened when she was a really little girl and then it was only her and Brandon. But then her parents had sent her to Prufrock and she never got to see Brandon again. So when Lemony’s letter had reached her and she found out that she’d have to share a condo with these nine, at first, she wasn’t really enthusiastic. But quickly over time, she began to enjoy living with these nine. It was like having siblings. She had five older siblings, Fiona, Violet, and the Quagmire triplets. She had her ‘twin’ which was Klaus, who was slowly becoming her best friend...if he liked it or not. Then she had three younger siblings, Friday, Sunny and Bea II. She saw these nine as not just her friends but her family, so she wasn’t going to let anyone hurt any of them especially the girls.

As they continued trick-or-treating, telling ghost stories as they walked and overall having a good time and being able to enjoy something from their childhood, Bea and Sunny began to feel tired from all the walking. Carmelita had picked up Bea and began to carry her while still holding Friday’s hand as they walked. 

Klaus and Duncan took turns carrying Sunny after a while and even after a while, Friday began to get tired of walking, so Quigley and Fiona took turn giving her piggyback rides. It wasn’t until each of their pillowcases were full that Violet decided it would be a smart move to go home. 

The ten children who had dealt with depressing and dire circumstances in their recent lives, found a sense of unity and comfort as they slowly made their way home. Bea falling peacefully asleep in Carmelita’s arms. Friday using Quigley’s head as a pillow as she too fell asleep and Sunny who had made it back to Duncan’s arms had peacefully fallen asleep. The other big kids who weren’t carrying a child carried the candy home. All ten children were thinking the same thing either as they were sleeping or awake. Not only was this one of the best Halloweens they had ever had...they felt like they had found a family again. The mysteries of Lemony Snicket, VFD, and even Count Olaf laid behind them as they found some peace within themselves and each other.


End file.
